what is the biggest late fee you have run up on an item, and which item was it?

i once acquired a late fee of over $200 on a vhs of john carpenter's dark star, which i kept for rented out for over a year from the video store where i worked (hastings: your entertainment superstore)
i was depressed and it became this symbol of how bad i was, and i got afraid to return it
the rental store would let us rent videos if someone paid $1 on their late fees so i kept doing that every time i rented a movie, just putting a tiny dent in the fee
after i worked there, i got a coupon from their circular that absolved a person of their late fees
my manager rang it up
when he saw my total fees, he said, "if i'd have known your fees were this big, i would've fired you."

i never ended up watching dark star the whole time i had it

that's a great coupon idea for libraries.

When our first one was potty training and I was a hapless and clueless parent about it, I had this brilliant idea that we should rent a carpet cleaning machine, already an expensive rental. We never used it, then we went away for a long weekend and I forgot to return it beforehand, and then I think I wound up paying something like $180 total for the rental. The guy behind the counter sort of muttered to his co-worker "shall I ring that up as a purchase?" I felt like a real shitheel.

i never returned david cronenberg's spider to hollywood video and for years afterward a few different collection agencies hounded me about it, i think they wanted like $150, even and especially after the chain went bankrupt. it affected my credit for a long time. i never did pay it and i think no one gives a shit about it anymore / it finally went away.

iirc in college my blockbuster card still had my home address or was connected to my parents' account or something and they called my mom about a delinquent copy of "Pimps Up, Hoes Down"

i still have my 8th-grade library's copy of watership down :/

Pretty sure my personal record is a parking ticket

I checked out Pi and Henry Fool on VHS from Tower Video on Lafayette when I was in college and just never returned them for reasons similar to Abs's. After a certain point they just charged me $100 for each. I wondered if they would refund the charges if I'd brought them back at that point but I was too embarrassed to find out.

It took me a really long time to get rid of them after that too. "That tape cost me a hundred bucks, dude!"

Emma had 10 books out overdue, each for ten weeks, over the summer holiday from her uni library. In the boot of her car. She forgot about them for a while and then remembered them and just ignored them, hoping it'd go away. Think it was a pound each, per day, so that should be about £350, BUT the uni library had a policy of topping out any fines at £100, and then, after a certain period, invoicing you for replacement copies, assuming them lost. So she got away with just £100, iirc.

I was working in another uni's library in the same town at the time and the person she had to pay the fee to was my colleague's wife.

Love the opening post. You should watch Dark Star, Abbott.

Good thing you did not watch Pi, E; it would have way exacerbated your depression.

Yeah, I'm glad I did not tbh.

I think I did see it at some point later though.

Back in high school I checked some guitar instruction book out of the library and kept it so long they actually sent a library policeman to my house to get it. I can't remember what the fines where.

I still have a VHS copy of Cronenberg's The Fly that I never returned to the video store in 1987. I assume the fines are in the thousands by now.

Not a late fee per se, but in addition to streaming I still pay for the Netflix DVD plan where you can only have one DVD out at a time. I've had a New Order DVD of a 1981 NYC show for over three years now. Haven't done the math but I guess I've paid between $200-$300 for that DVD. I haven't had chance to watch it yet.

late fees are the worst

i'm a librarian and i have close to $500 in fines from the library i work in, because of that i can't borrow anything anymore. at previous libraries i worked a little bit in circulation or had access to the circulation system so i could waive my own fines. now i don't have access to that system and don't work in circulation, and i am too embarrassed to ask circulation staff to erase the fines.

not just because i am a shitty borrower, but i really do think all libraries should forgive fines as long as the item is returned without damage. i think loan periods are stupid too, at least for academic libraries (where i work). books you can borrow for a few months here but cds and dvds are 1 (ONE!!) week, which is complete bullshit. you should be able to hang on to an item for as long as you need it or until someone else recalls it. it is very easy to request a recall when you want something that is already checked out. that should be encouraged more, and i am okay with fines if you don't bring back an item that is recalled by someone else. and i guess fines are useful as an incentive to return something but as soon as you return it i think the fine should be waived

Fines Information for: ILX POSTER MARCOS

Library Balance
Main Library - 72.50
Music Library - 406.50
Total: - 479.00

For details about a transaction, click on the underlined number. (All transactions are UNPAID transactions).

Title Year Amount Fine Status
Owed Date
1 African scream contest (sound recording) : raw and psychedelic Afro sounds from Benin & Togo 70s. 2008 2.00 09/08/2014 Not paid
2 Bob Marley : the untold story / Chris Salewicz. 2010 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
3 Catch a fire : the life of Bob Marley / Timothy White. 2006 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
4 Classic country music (sound recording) : a Smithsonian collection / selected and annotated by Bill 1990 10.00 12/20/2013 Not paid
5 1990 10.00 12/20/2013 Not paid
6 1990 10.00 12/20/2013 Not paid
7 1990 10.00 12/20/2013 Not paid
8 The complete Bob Marley & the Wailers, 1967-1972. Part II (sound recording). 1997 15.00 05/14/2014 Not paid
9 The complete Bob Marley & the Wailers, 1967-1972. Part III (sound recording). 1999 15.00 05/14/2014 Not paid
10 1999 15.00 05/14/2014 Not paid
11 The complete In a silent way sessions (sound recording) / Miles Davis. 2001 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
12 2001 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
13 2001 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
14 2001 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
15 The complete on the corner sessions (sound recording) / Miles Davis. 2007 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
16 The complete Wailers, 1967-1972. Part 1 (sound recording). 2000 15.00 05/14/2014 Not paid
17 Court and spark (sound recording) / Joni Mitchell. 2000 10.00 12/20/2013 Not paid
18 Fodor's Mexico. 1972 12.50 10/01/2013 Not paid
19 Get up with it (sound recording) / Miles Davis. 2000 1.00 09/18/2014 Not paid
20 2000 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
21 Heavy weather (sound recording) / Weather Report. 1992 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
22 Highway to Hassake (sound recording) : folk and pop sounds of Syria / Omar Souleyman. 2006 15.00 07/26/2013 Not paid
23 I sing the body electric (sound recording) / Weather Report. 1990 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
24 The letting go (sound recording) / Bonnie "Prince" Billy. 2006 15.00 04/16/2013 Not paid
25 Liital (sound recording) / Aby Ngana Diop. 2014 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
26 Mento merengue méringue (sound recording) : country dance music from Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Haiti & 1995 2.00 03/27/2014 Not paid
27 Mexico. 2010 15.00 10/23/2013 Not paid
28 Miles, the autobiography / Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe. 1989 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
29 Miles to go : remembering Miles Davis / by Chris Murphy. 2002 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
30 Milestones / Jack Chambers. 1983 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
31 1983 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
32 The music of Joni Mitchell / Lloyd Whitesell. 2008 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
33 Nature next door : cities and trees in the American Northeast / Ellen Stroud ; foreword by William C 2012 4.00 04/08/2013 Not paid
34 2012 2.50 06/12/2013 Not paid
35 2012 10.50 08/02/2013 Not paid
36 Nigeria special. Disc 1-2 (sound recording) : modern highlife, afro-sounds & Nigerian blues 1970-6 / 2007 2.00 03/27/2014 Not paid
37 Nigeria special. volume 2 (sound recording) : modern highlife, afro-sounds & Nigerian blues 1970-6 / 2010 2.00 03/27/2014 Not paid
38 Paradise now (videorecording) / Warner Independent Pictures ; produced with the support of Nederland 2006 4.50 02/26/2014 Not paid
39 People funny boy / David Katz. 2000 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
40 Play me : sweet and nice (sound recording) / Marcia Griffiths. 2006 2.00 03/27/2014 Not paid
41 Rastaman vibration (sound recording) / Bob Marley & The Wailers. 2001 15.00 05/14/2014 Not paid
42 Running the voodoo down : the electric music of Miles Davis / by Philip Freeman. 2005 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
43 The Simpsons (videorecording) : the complete second season / Gracie Films ; Twentieth Century Fox Fi 2002 9.00 11/01/2013 Not paid
44 Smoke signals (videorecording) / Miramax Films ; a Shadowcatcher Entertainment production ; directed 1999 4.50 02/26/2014 Not paid
45 Solid foundation : an oral history of reggae / David Katz. 2012 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
46 This is reggae music : the story of Jamaica's music / Lloyd Bradley. 2001 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
47 'Til Shiloh (sound recording) / Buju Banton. 1995 2.00 03/27/2014 Not paid
48 Tumbélé! (sound recording) Biguine, Afro & Latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74. 2009 2.00 03/27/2014 Not paid
49 Unstoppable (videorecording) / Twentieth Century Fox presents ; in association with Dune Entertainme 2010 4.00 01/30/2014 Not paid
50 Voodoo (sound recording) / D'Angelo. 2000 4.50 01/12/2015 Not paid
51 Will Oldham on Bonnie "Prince" Billy / edited by Alan Licht. 2012 3.50 04/08/2013 Not paid
52 2012 8.00 08/02/2013 Not paid
53 2012 15.00 04/06/2015 Not paid
54 The wire (videorecording) : the complete series / Home Box Office. 2008 1.50 06/16/2014 Not paid
55 2008 1.50 06/16/2014 Not paid
56 2008 3.00 06/19/2014 Not paid

Heh. I've checked out a few of those from my local library, but I returned them on time.

Worst fine I ever had was about $9 for a bunch of CDs I kept out a week past their due date. I didn't listen to a single one of them either.

I've been lucky with library fines (lucky bcz I am totally disorganised and forgetful but don't remember any really bad fines) but I uh may still have several textbooks from my secondary school, ahem

there was one subject I seemed to be chronically unable to remember the set texts for, but there were piles of spares shelved round the edge of the classroom, so I'd just turn up early and take a new one off the pile, repeatedly

sorry to any teachers reading

Pretty sure my personal record is a parking ticket

― El Tomboto, Thursday, December 10, 2015 9:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When I was in college I once got a parking ticket, went to pay it, and they said they had no record of it in the system. Then I got another one and the same thing happened. Holy shit, I thought, it's like I'm a ghost, I don't exist. I thought (dumbly) that maybe they just couldn't make people with out of state plates pay parking tickets. I racked up more and more tickets with no repercussions, went on for months. Then one day I found a boot on my car. Went to the parking authority and it turned out they had been entering my tickets with a Washington State plate code (WA) instead of Washington DC (DC). When they figured it out, I owed several hundred dollars. I did at least argue them into waiving the late fees though.

I'm such a goodie-two-shoes I'm pretty sure I've never had a late fee above $1 for any item from anywhere ever.

In the fall of my eighth grade year, for reasons that are currently beyond me, I would go to the public library, check a few books out, stow them in a big Rubbermaid tote, and then repeat until I'd amassed several dozen books over the course of a number of months. And I guess they, like, called my house or something and my mom found my stash and was as dumbfounded as I am recalling it now. Anyway, those were some sizeable fees.

Fines Information for: ILX POSTER MARCOS

this is lame. read it or watch it or rip it; making ppl take the extra step of requesting something (which is probably presumed lost after two years) while it sits on your shelf is bullshit

are you serious

Interlibrary loan

Is the best

I amassed some $60 late fee after my dissertation because it was hard to let go

yes

I assume all the stuff is back..

I don't remember paying fees beyond about £2 but I do remember being outraged when I had to pay to replace my lost school library card (on some teenage "I am a student here therefore it is MY RIGHT to" etc tip, not that I said so to the librarian, I was a shy rude asshole)

also one time when I just missed the opening hours of the library and it was shut the next day and online renewals didn't exist yet and they'd blocked off the book deposit box for "security reasons", I was p. pissed off at that fine

I work for a library now and my staff privileges include year-long loans and infinite renewals, so I've taken a bunch of stuff out and let it sit around for months while not reading more than 10 pages of it. I think real readers can still request it which would override my loan privileges but uh yeah, I'll try to make an effort to read it and send it back before Christmas

I actually haven't taken that much stuff out in total either, really ought to call up a bunch of out-of-print stuff or I'll regret not doing so when I leave

I ran up $175 in late fees at my university library. I thought I was going to get away without paying it too but it was the end of my last year and I was informed I wouldn't graduate unless I paid up. Oh well.

back when Fandango was partnered with that one shitty partner websites that gave you free tix for doing free trials/purchases from sponsors, I signed up for Stamps.com. Naturally their website is one that makes you call to cancel where undoubtedly the call would last 20 minutes and they'd say "waht if I offered you two months free?". so I kept putting off calling and then I forgot to cancel after 30 days.

I never used the service, and by the time the first charge was due, my CC number had changed, so they couldn't charge it. I recall getting one or two emails saying "if you are not paid up by xx date, your service will be cancelled", so I just said w/e, I'll let it get cancelled. I had registered it to this email dump address I never used.

two and a half years passed and one day I looked in that email address and saw those fuckers were still emailing me, and had been tacking on the missed payments the entire time. So now I was afraid to call to cancel and have them send me a huge bill. So I just said I would play dumb and ignore it. Esp since their first few emails led me to believe I'd just be cancelled anyway if I didn't pay.

Somehow they got ahold of my new Amex card number and a few days later, I saw a charge for like $250 on there, and it was for 2 and a half years missed payments for Stamps.com.

I emailed them to ask them to take it off and they were like "loooooool just cos u didn't use it doesn't mean u didn't owe it's like car insurance". and then I found their Terms and Conditions which indicated that deliquency would result in a suspended account and something like two delinquent payments meant instant cancellation, which of course didn't happen. so they didn't admit they screwed up but they reluctantly refunded me everything.

Never used it once.

also it's not a 'late fee' per se, but I had an annual pass to Universal Studios in like 2010. I had forgotten which card I had the recurring charge sent to and it was a card I reported as lost one month so the number changed. back then, I didn't pay attention to my monthly statements, so I didn't realize the charges weren't happening until one day I couldn't get on the site and was told my account was suspended.

now unfortunately if I want a new annual pass, I have to pay the four months I still owe from 5 years ago before I can open a new one. they haven't made any attempt to collect it and have said it's not required for me to ever pay it back tho.

also still think I have pretty sizable fines in the Seminole County public library system from 1997.

Holy crap, HSB. Did the stamps.com thing affect your credit record?

oof re stamps.com

I bought someone a year's AA subscription (Automobile Association not the other one) once, and the next year someone else promised them one so I rang up to cancel the auto-renewal, but they wouldn't cancel because I wasn't the named user, and when the recipient rang up to cancel they wouldn't because the payment wasn't from their card. eventually one of us rang again and pleaded with someone and they assured us it was all sorted and wouldn't renew

but, it did renew, and when I rang up to query it they asked for my card number and they wouldn't talk to me because it was the wrong card number, and then I realised the card I'd used had expired and the new one had a different number. so I couldn't even talk to them because I didn't remember the old card number, but how did the payment go through with the old number and an expiry date in the past? bah

Sunny - nope. They didn't go to collections or anything and quickly refunded once I pointed out their terms and conditions contradicted what they did and I was going to dispute charges anyway.

Wow I just had no idea they could charge you for anything if there wasnt a valid card there let alone somehow find a different card and charge it. So dodgy.

It was a cute attempt

read it or watch it or rip it; making ppl take the extra step of requesting something while it sits on your shelf is bullshit

this. due dates are for getting items back on the shelf so others can browse a well-stocked library.

I had an oddly specific dream (nightmare) the other night that I had forgotten to return three VHS tapes in 1999 and I now owed $7000 each in fees for them. In the dream I even consulted a lawyer who was like "Yep, these are legit late fees and you can't get out of them."